When Ashley and Jennifer arrived at Ashley's house, they saw that her mom was heading out. "Ashley, I need to run a few errands," said Ashley's mom, "Bobby's inside and he'll look after you until I get back."
"Ok, Mommy," said Ashley before she and Jennifer headed inside. They found Bobby in the kitchen and hugged his legs. "Hi Bobby," said Ashley excitedly.
"Hey, Ashley," said Bobby with a wistful look on his face.
"What's the matter?" asked Jennifer
"Nothing, just...thinking about something," said Bobby.
"Ok, wanna see our new rings?" asked Ashley.
"Your what?" asked Bobby, sounding very surprised.
Jennifer held up her hand with the ring on it. "We found them over at my house," she said. Ashley held up her own hand too.
"You found them? Oh, good, I was worried about them for a while," said Bobby.
"You know them?" asked Ashley.
"Yeah, they're my rings. Er, did you use them yet?" asked Bobby.
"Use them?" asked Jennifer.
Bobby looked between the two rings, unable to tell them apart. "Ok, both of you wish the other was a year older or younger," he said.
Ashley and Jennifer weren't sure what Bobby mean, but they decided to play along. "I wish you were a year older or younger," they said, pointing at each other. They didn't think anything would happen, but then they felt a tingle through their bodies. Ashley felt herself growing a little bigger, her clothes getting a little snug. At the same time, Jennifer was shrinking, her clothes becoming baggier. When the changes stopped, Ashley was clearly taller than Jennifer who looked a little younger.
It was pretty clear to Bobby that Ashley has the Ring of Regression while Jennifer had the Ring of Progression. Now that he knew which was which, he said, "Ok, Ashley, wish yourself a year young and Jennifer, you wish to be a year older." The girls looked at each other before doing what Bobby said. Pretty soon, Ashley was shrinking while Jennifer was growing. In a few seconds, they were back to their original age of 5.
"What happened?" asked Ashley.
"The rings are magic," said Bobby, "Your ring can make people younger while Jennifer's ring can make them older." He held out his hands and said, "Now please give me my rings back."
Jennifer looked at her ring thoughtfully. "Make people older..." she said to herself.